Having spent a Saturday afternoon in New York with Malinda Williams, thanks to Macy’s, who’s celebrating the 100th birthday of Gordon Parks during Black History Month, I look forward to seeing more of her on screen. She spoke eloquently, sharing her best practices with the crowd who honored and revered her knowledge and presence of the creativity of the first black Hollywood film director (The Learning Tree) and Life and Vogue magazines first black photographer, Gordon Parks. In 1971, his iconic movie Shaft broke the color barrier and opened the way for a host of black films.
On his 100th birthday, we still have many of the issues that Gordon Parks portrayed in his body of work and the life that we call reality has stained as much as it has brightened our image. I can relate Gordon Parks to young Johnny Núñez who has photographed both Beyoncé and Jay-Z. I imagine it was more challenging because Gordon understood the pain and the reality and experienced a duality — being black in America yet having to produce and showcase our greatness while making a difference.
Our women are making a difference but the offers and opportunities are few. We want Malia and Sasha Obama, Blue Ivy and all young ladies of the future to have a role that they can be proud of that illustrates the real reality of the African American woman. We’re hoping and praying that our daughter can be a star with her clothes on.
